The series ended with one of the Historic Test Matches. The match wasn’t historic in terms of the Aussies defeat but as it was a ‘Farewell of Sourav Ganguly’, ‘Harbhajan Singh took his 300th Wicket’, ‘VVS Laxman played his 100th Test Match’ and ‘Sachin Tendulkar took his 100th Test Catch’. Now moving from the histories created, the match was eventful too. The roller coaster of match victory swung between India and Australia at every point of time. The decision of banning Gautam Gambhir and the
controversial selection of Murali Vijay, the dream debut of Jason Krejza and the disappointment on the face of Aussie Skipper Ricky Ponting formed the highlights of the game.
Sourav Ganguly did the Bradmanish thing, repeating the history as he was out for a duck in his last test innings and Bradman could not make the 4 runs needed for the 100 runs figure for his average in his last innings. This is really an end on a sad note but also reinforces ‘Cricket’ as game ‘Full of Surprises’.
Aussies not only need to come out of this defeat and prepare themselves for the upcoming cricket tours and series but also need their ‘Cricket Playing Process Re-engineering’. They were not out of form as the spark came from every player in spurts; the only problem that haunted them was the failure of the effectiveness of their mind games.
Punter could not even match the strategy making and execution capabilities of Steve Waugh. The dismal performance of Aussie isn’t the responsibility of the Captain alone but the sad part is the responsibility comes to and should be taken by Captain alone for the morale of the Team.
The series saw Tendulkar in different avatars and Ganguly’ class together on the pitch twice: Once when Tendulkar completed his 12000 runs mark in Mohali and then on completing his 40th century in Nagpur. Gambhir was magnificent as he became the ‘Indian Run Machine’ and the ‘Aussie Trouble Causer’. The only worry Indian Dressing Room will have is the Aging Great Wall – Rahul Dravid and greatest achievement of the series for India will be excellent bowling efforts for the dislike of the critics.
Cricket360 congratulates ‘TEAM INDIA’ for this marvellous victory over Aussies and proving their metal and at the same time Cricket360 wishes the Indian Team luck for the worth coming series against England from 14th November 2008 and for the endless Scheduled Cricketing Season of the team.
